Bottle stopper



June 23; 1936. "r. w. MILLER 2,044.914

BOTTLE STOPPER Filed on. 29, 1954 Z I I if Thorn-As Wmanm:

Patented June 23, 1936 PATENT osrlcs 2,044,914 BOTTLE STOPPER Thomas W. Miller, Ashland, Ohio, assignor to The Faultless Rubber Company, Ashland, Ohio,

a corporation of Ohio Application October 29, 1934, Serial No. 750,482

11 Claims.

My invention relates to bottle stoppers, and the principal object of my invention is to provide a new and improved stopper, and a new and improved method of making stoppers; my invention probably is particularly applicable to screw-threaded bottle stoppers of the type employed to close the opening in a hot water bag, and in this application I have illustrated my invention in that connection, and in the drawing:

Figure 1 is a view of a completed stopper of the type chosen for illustration of the invention, showing the stopper in position closing the opening of a hot water bag,

Figure 2 is a view showing the stopper in an intermediate stage of its manufacture, while- Figure 3 is a further View of the completed stopper, showing the stopper in section, on the line 33 of Figure 1. i

In Figure 1, I have illustrated a hot water bag I l provided with a neck 12 in which is positioned a closure l3 provided with a filling opening l4 composed of an outer screw-threaded portion l5 and an inner portion It of reduced diameter, the two portions l5 and I6 defining therebetween an annular shoulder l'l against which the closure stopper [8 seats, to seal the opening.

The particular stopper l8 disclosed in the present drawing, comprises a ring I9 carrying the stopper screw-threads, a body 29 on which the ring I9 is mounted, and a sealing member 2| provided to contact the water bag shoulder l! and seal the water bag opening M,

According to the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the thread-carrying ring [9 isrcom- 35 posed of vulcanizable material capable of being hard-vulcanized, that is, vulcanized to the hardness of hard rubber, and for this purpose I may use any stock suitable for the purpose, as is well known in the art. Also, the ring I9 is full-molded,

40 under high pressure, and in a mold wherein the mold surface forming the outer face of the ring l9, and therefore the threads 22, is a single, unbroken, and uninterrupted surface, whereby the threads 22 are uniformly full-formed and prop- 45 erly aligned, and without any fin. The ring I 9 is vulcanized in this way to the hardness of rather stiff soft rubber, and then is stripped from the mold and mounted on the body 20, which according to the illustrated embodiment of the inven- 50 tion has been formed from similar stock, and vulcanized to substantially the same hardness,

and then the assembled body 20 and ring 19 are further vulcanized, to the desired hard-vulcanized condition, this further vulcanization being in 5 open heat to avoid any possible deformation or change in configuration of the threads 22.

It will be understood that during this further vulcanization the ring [9 will vulcanize to the body 20, at least to some extent, and ordinarily 60 to an extent entirely sumcient to hold the two parts permanently assembled, but I prefer to insure this permanent assembly of the ring 19- on the body 20 without depending on vulcanization of the ring l9 to the body 2!], and accordingly, I prefer to form the ring I9 and body 20 of cooperating configurations that will insure this result, such, for example, as the configurations herein illustrated.

According to the configurations herein illustrated, the bore 23 of the ring [9 comprises successively an upper circular recess 24, a square portion 25 of reduced cross-section, a frustroconical portion 26 tapering downwardly from an upper diameter equal to the side of the square portion 25, and a recess 21 of a diameter substantially equal to the diameter of the upper larger end of the frustro-conical portion 26, while the body 28 comprises an enlarged flange 28 partially received in the upper recess 24, a square shank 29 received in the square bore portion 25, a corresponding frustro-conical shank 30 received in the frustro-conical bore portion 26, and a smaller flange 3| received in the upper portion of the bore recess 21.

Assembly of the body 20 and ring l9 obviously requires the passage of the body flange 3| through the frustro-conical bore portion 25 of lesser diameter, but as will be readily understood by those skilled in the art, this offers no difliculty, because the body 28 and ring l9 are assmbled at a time when they possess the characteristics of soft rubber. On the other hand, once the body 20 and ring I9 have been further vulcanized into hard-vulcanized condition, passage of the flange 3| becomes impossible, and thereupon the ring l9 and body 20 are held permanently assembled. That is, after the further vulcanization the ring l9 and body 20 are heldagainst longitudinal movement in one direction by the engagement of the body flange 2B in'the upper recess 24, and by the inter-engagement of the frustro-conical shank 353 with the frustro-conical bore portion 26, and against longitudinal movement in the other direction by the engagement of the body flange 3| in the bore recess 21, and against relative rotation by the engagement of the square shank 29 in the square recess portion 25, so that after the ring I9 and body '20 have been hardvulcanized, they are held together positively, regardless of any intercalation by the further vulcanization.

According to the illustrated embodiment of my invention the sealing member 2| comprises a disc portion 32 overlying the lower end of the ring I9 andengaging the water bag shoulder I1, and is held in position by an integral upwardly extending stud 33 projecting into the lower end of the ring bore 23 not occupied by the parts of the body 20, and to insure retention of the member 2| against any accidental displacement, the stud 33 is provided at its upper part with an annular flange 34 seating in the lower part of the lower ring recess Z'l; by this construction the member 2| is left free to rotate relative to the ring I9 and body 20, yet is held positively against any accidental displacement, and in fact, as the stopper is seated is forced into tighter engagement with the ring l9, to be more firmly held against displacement therefrom.

The member 2! may be made of any material suitable for the purpose, such as a soft rubber, and the body 20 may be provided with a flat handle 35 rising from the circular flange 28, by which the stopper may be operated.

From the foregoing it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the embodiment of my invention herein disclosed accomplishes at least the principal object of my invention, and concurrently, it also will be obvious to those skilled in the art that my invention may be otherwise embodied, and accordingly, it will be understood, that the herein disclosure is illustrative only, and that my invention is not to be taken as limited thereto.

I claim:

1. A bottle-stopper, comprising: a body, provided at its inner end with a projecting skirt; and a sealing member, overlying said inner end, and including a portion projecting within said skirt and interengageable therewith, said portion serving to hold said member assembled with said body.

2. A bottle-stopper, comprising: a body, generally of vulcanized material, hard-vulcanized, and provided at its inner end with a projecting skirt; and a sealing member, of vulcanizable material, soft-vulcanized, overlying said inner end, and including a portion projecting within said skirt and interengageable therewith, said portion serving to hold said member assembled with said body.

3. A screw-threaded bottle-stopper, comprising: a stopper body; and a molded-plastic member, mounted on said body, secured in position on said body, and provided with the stopper screwthreads; said member including an annular portion surrounding'a portion of said body, and said annular portion being undercut, and said body being provided with a flange received in the recess formed by said undercut, to secure said member in position on said body.

4. A screw-threaded bottle-stopper, comprising: a stopper body; and a molded-plastic member, mounted on said body, secured in position on said body, and provided with the stopper screwthreads; said member being provided with a skirt projecting beyond the inner end of said body, and undercut on the inner face thereof; and a sealing member, at the inner end of said stopper, and provided with a portion entering within said skirt and flanged to enter said undercut, to hold said sealing member in position.

5. A bottle-stopper, comprising: a body, provided at its inner end with a skirt undercut on its inner face; and a sealing member, overlying said inner end, and including a portion projecting within said skirt, and flanged to enter said undercut, to hold said member assembled with said body.

6. A bottle stopper, comprising: a body, having a recess at its inner end, said recess being provided with an abutment; and a sealing member provided with an abutment engageable with said recess abutment, so constructed and arranged that said sealing member is held assembled with said body portion; said sealing member being rotatable relative to said body.

7. A screw-threaded bottle stopper, comprising: a stopper body having a generally non-circular portion and a generally circular portion pro-vided with a flange; a molded-plastic member, mounted on said body and secured thereto, said member being provided with a recess having a non-circular portion, circular portion, and undercut recess respectively engageable with the non-circular portion, circular portion, and flange of said body; and sealing means at the inner end of said stopper, provided with a portion entering said recess and flanged to engage with said undercut, to hold said sealing member in position.

8. The method of forming a screw-threaded bottle stopper, which comprises: placing plastic material in a mold having a single section cut to form the entire stopper screw-threads; acting on said material to form a molded tubular member provided with screw-threads on its outer surface; stripping said member from said mold; and mounting said member on a stopper body, on a projecting portion of said body, with said tubular member surrounding said portion.

9. The method of forming a screw-threaded bottle stopper, which comprises: placing plastic material in a mold having a single section cut to form the entire stopper screw-threads; acting on said material to form a partially vulcanized molded tubular member provided with screwthreads on its outer surface; stripping said member from said mold; and mounting said member on a stopper body, on a projecting portion of said body, with said tubular member surrounding said portion; and further vulcanizing said member in open heat, to convert said member into hardvulcanized condition and to secure said member in position on said body, without deformation of said screw-threads.

10. The method of forming a screw-threaded bottle stopper, which comprises: acting on vulcanizable material in a mold having a single section to form a partially vulcanized tubular member provided with stopper screw-threads; stripping said member from the mold; molding vulcanizable material to form a partially vulcanized stopper body having a portion adapted to be disposed within said tubular member; mounting said member on the portion of said body; and further vulcanizing said member and said body to unite said member and said body.

11. The method of forming a screw-threaded bottle stopper, which comprises: acting on vulcanizable material in a mold having a single section to form a tubular member provided with stopper screw-threads and vulcanizing said member to semi-hard condition; stripping said member from said mold; molding vulcanizable material to form a stopper body having a portion adapted to be disposed within said tubular member and vulcanizing said body to semi-hard condition; mounting said member on the portion of said body; and further vulcanizing said member and said body to unite said member and said body, and to convert said member and said body into hard-vulcanized condition.

THOMAS W. MILLER. 

